In the west of Manlaga, on the banks of the Ningyi River, the wind is rustling and the water is cold. The two armies are facing each other. How many people are there? This is the battlefield chosen by the coalition forces for a decisive battle with the Dutch army.
King Muzaffar of Perak led an army of 6,000 to join the coalition. This dissipated the haze of the naval defeat and greatly increased the confidence of commander Ibrahim. He assembled an army of 30,000 and a navy of 9,000 to prepare for a decisive battle with the Dutch.
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Chen Ze and Yang Quan originally did not plan to have a decisive battle at this time. After the defeat in the last sea battle, the navy's strength has not yet recovered. Although the army has reached 30,000 due to the increase in troops from various countries, it has consumed a lot of supplies.
The amount of military aid is getting smaller and smaller. At first, Emperor Guangwu gave more because he wanted to provoke other countries to go against the East India Company. Now that the war has been ignited, he is reluctant to give too much. After all, even the old ordnance that has been eliminated
, it’s also worth some money if you resell it.
They didn't want to fight, but someone forced them to fight. A lot of money had been invested in the southward expansion plan, but the Ming Dynasty's goal of allowing its merchant ships to enjoy equal tax rates had not yet been achieved. The old emperor was very anxious and ordered them to obtain it as soon as possible.
A great victory to force the East India Company to make concessions.
It is hard to disobey the emperor's order, so we have to fight!
Chen Ze, Yang Quan and Ibrahim discussed and decided to choose the battlefield on the bank of the Ningyi River. The Ningyi River is a small river. Although it is connected to the strait, the river channel is narrow and the large ships of the Dutch army cannot enter, so small boats can only pass through.
, and most of our own ships are small boats, which can offset the Dutch army's maritime advantage to the greatest extent; in addition, there is a plain beside the river, which is conducive to our own elephant soldiers and cavalry charges, while the Dutch army has very few cavalry.
Long hit short.
Governor Diman saw that the giant ship could not sail into the Ningyi River, so he asked Commander Dam to lead the main force of the navy and a thousand land troops to guard the city of Manlajia with him; he also asked Commander Koproul to lead a force of nine thousand troops and a thousand troops.
The navy driving a small boat battles with the coalition forces.
As a result, Koprol became the supreme commander of the Dutch army.
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It's late at night, and the sleeping Ningyi River is like a sleeping beauty.
A small boat quietly sailed into the river. For safety, only a small lantern was hung on the bow. Looking at it in the night, it looked like a "fishing fire" on a fishing boat.
On the ship, Captain Del and a dozen scouts recorded and collected various intelligence and mapped the terrain and hydrology. During this period, he came every night. Many galleys of the coalition navy were moored on the river bank, but they were so careless that they unexpectedly
These "fishing fires" have never been inspected.
Soon, a detailed report was submitted to Commander Koprol. The report showed that the enemy navy in the river had more than 200 small galleys and about 300 various types of artillery, while our own side only had small galleys.
Thirty ships and sixty guns; the enemy also has an unknown number of elephant soldiers and cavalry. If they charge within two miles of each other, they can rush to the front of our own formation in less than a quarter of an hour. In addition, although the enemy's infantry equipment is not as good as our own,
But there are still a large number of long-range strike weapons such as artillery, matchlocks, bows and arrows??
Finally, Captain Del came to a conclusion: fighting on the Ningyi River cannot give full play to one's own naval superiority, but it is beneficial to the opponent's navy, cavalry and elephant soldiers, and the possibility of failure is extremely high.
Commander Koprol was famous for his good defense, in other words, he was cautious. After seeing the report submitted by Captain Del, he ignored Governor Diman's request to let the Dutch army fight decisively on the banks of the Ningyi River and made a "disgraceful" decision:
Retreat. Since the terrain here is not conducive to our own side, what reason is there to let the soldiers die in vain?
On the evening of June 17, the 19th year of the reign of Emperor Guangwu of the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch army retreated towards Mankajia under the cover of darkness. Although they carefully concealed their whereabouts, such a large-scale retreat still attracted the attention of allied sentries.<
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Ibrahim was unwilling to cook the duck and flew away, so he ordered a chase.
At dawn on June 17, the Dutch army retreated to a small village called Gamba. Coprell ordered the entire army to rest here. They had just found a Malay-style house similar to a stilt house, and planned to sleep on the road and conduct reconnaissance.
Then news came from the soldiers: the coalition forces were chasing them.
Seeing that there was no way to avoid it, Koprol ordered to form a formation to fight.
At this time, they were far away from the Ningyi River, and the warships of both sides were unable to function. The actual confrontation was between the armies of both sides: 30,000 coalition troops and 9,000 Dutch troops.
The Battle of Gamba unfolded in a way that neither side expected.
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In the morning, the coalition forces launched a sudden attack on the Dutch troops Deer, John and Sbibe stationed in Gamba Village in four directions; the Dutch troops set up artillery positions in the village to bombard the enemy.
After a fierce battle, the coalition forces gained an initial advantage. Commander Ibrahim then slacked off and ordered them to advance in a one-line battle formation, with cavalry covering both wings, striving to encircle the Dutch army and annihilate them. Commander Coproll saw the opponent's line
The formation was too loose, so he led hundreds of Dutch troops to counterattack in a phalanx, repelling the coalition's frontal offensive.
At noon, Ibrahim ordered the elephant soldiers to make a frontal assault again, hoping to use the huge impact of these big guys to break through the opponent's frontal defense. However, they were bombarded by Dutch artillery in the village. Raindrop-like shells fell into the elephant herd.
The explosion killed Shah Asu, the general of the elephant army. The frightened elephant turned around and ran wildly, trampling and injuring many of its own soldiers.
However, this was just an episode in the battle. With the absolute superiority of its troops, the coalition's left wing Iskandar defeated the Dutch army's left wing Del, who had to retreat to the village; the Dutch army's right wing John's Department and central Sibi
Under the pressure of the superior strength of the coalition forces, Beibu also slowly retreated.
The battle continued until the afternoon, when 30,000 allied troops finally surrounded 9,000 Dutch troops in Gamba Village.
Everyone believed that the Dutch army had actually been defeated. The injured Lieutenant Colonel Sbibe even handed over the command to his adjutant, Major Zach, and retreated to the village to recuperate.
"Hahaha, catching a turtle in a urn! Our army was able to annihilate the main force of the Red Yi in this battle, all because of the commander's command!" Chen Ze praised loudly.
"Yes, if the commander hadn't persisted in pursuing him, the main force of Hongyi would have escaped!" Yang Quan was also full of praise.
When the Dutch army retreated, Ibrahim wanted to pursue them, but they felt that a decisive battle elsewhere would not necessarily be beneficial to their side, so they did not want to pursue them. Ibrahim was eager to pursue his merits, insisted on pursuing them, and was willing to take full responsibility.
The two of them reluctantly agreed.
Unexpectedly, the commander-in-chief made the right bet. The coalition forces surrounded the Dutch army that had left in a hurry in the village of Gamba. Seeing that the enemy was about to be wiped out, how could one not be overjoyed!
The two of them praised Ibrahim so much that Sun Wu was reincarnated and Wu Qi was reborn. They praised Ibrahim until his handsome face turned red and he still refused to give up.
At this time, a thousand Dutch navy troops who had just withdrawn from the Ningyi River and were planning to return to Manlaga along the coast heard the sound of artillery in Gamba Village.
Major Contini found out that his own army was surrounded there, leaving a hundred men to guard the boat. He led 900 navy troops to land and fight towards Gamba Village.
The Battle of Gamba reached a turning point.
This chapter has been completed!